Had to collect my thoughts and let the emotions die down a little before revisiting this. First off, when I walked out of the stadium in Kansas City after the 0-0 against Curaçao, I went around with gleeful optimism at our chances of beating Germany. I did my best to cheer up all the sad-faced fans who thought it was over and told them, “Alemania no es nada.” I got a lot of weird looks. But realistically, we suffered a late dagger after hitting the woodwork three times in the first game and drew 0-0 after creating 2.84 xG in the second game. We were playing well, and knowing this team, I knew they would turn up when it mattered most. We’ve always played up to our competition, but for as long as I can remember, we’ve always just lacked that little bit of luck or magic to get us over the line in the biggest games. It felt like a dark cloud. “Jugamos como nunca, perdimos como siempre,” is a common saying where we’re from. But this game was an opportunity to shake off that old curse and write a new story for the history of Ecuadorian soccer. To turn a new page however, would require us to beat the four-time world champions in Germany, who battered a team we couldn’t even manage to score against, 7 to 1. And when that first goal went in, I have to say, even I started to believe it was over. Then Nilson Angulo answered back and you just felt like anything was possible. When Plata scored, I cried, overwhelmed by the thought of 18 million answered prayers. The nation deserved this for their blind faith and determination. Plata himself deserved this for everything he gave in the first two games, and even for how unlucky he was to strike the crossbar against the Netherlands in the last World Cup. Our people deserved to celebrate something. Beccacece, who was rightfully criticized before this game, got everything right this day and has earned the love of the people for at least one more day. No matter what happens next, this moment will be etched in our history forever. 🇪🇨